Juvy Girl
by Treyann
Summary: Twelve years ago, one of Nick and Sara’s twin daughters went missing. After having coped somewhat with that loss, they – and everyone else in the lab – have to deal with another problem: a girl from juvy. AU, WIP.
1. A loss & A Problem

Juvy girl

Summary: Twelve years ago, one of Nick and Sara's twin daughters went missing. After having coped somewhat with that loss, they – and everyone else in the lab – have to deal with another problem; a girl from juvi. AU, WIP.

Chapter one: A loss & a problem

_Twelve years ago_

Nick looked up at his wife with a tender expression on his face. He could see she was exhausted, but he also saw an incredible joy. And pride.

He couldn't be any more joyous or proud himself. His wife, whom he loved above everything, had just sealed their love forever, by giving birth to two twin girls. Their daughters. They weren't here now, but in the paediatric ward, with the other newborns. They would be brought in later, for their first feeding.

He noticed Sara was starting to doze off. Not that he could blame her. Which woman is not exhausted after 23 hours of labour? He went to kiss her on the forehead when there was a soft knock at the door.

Upon turning around, he saw Catherine standing there with two little presents in her hands.

"Am I disturbing?"

Sara forced her eyes open slowly, a contented look on her face. "Not at all," she said, "I was just starting to doze off."

Catherine smiled. "Who wouldn't, after what you've just been through?"

"Hmm. Well, it was all worth it."

"I'd say that. Two girls, huh?"

"Yeah," Nick responded. "We said we'd name the first one Amy, but we still haven't decided on a name for the second girl."

"Well, then you'd better hurry, you've got two birth certificates to fill in."

"We know, but a name's a thing for life, you don't want to rush it and pick the wrong one."

Catherine was about to reply to that when there was another, more firm knock at the door. It was one of the nurses that had helped with the midwife during childbirth. She had a worried look on her face.

Sara picked up on it straight away. "What's wrong?"

"Something with the girls?" Nick chimed in.

For a moment, the nurse seemed at a loss of words. Then she began to speak, hesitantly. "We uhm… we had to call the police. ("What? Whatever for?") I'm afraid that uhm… one of the girls… is missing. She's not on the ward, or with one of the nurses. ("How can that happen? What do you mean, she's missing. How can a baby go missing from a hospital?")" The nurse was visibly uncomfortable, but she continued. "We don't know how it can have happened, all we know, is that she's been taken somehow. We know that, because we found this in her crib."

She held out a little note, which read;

_This one was one too many. They won't be able to take care of her, so I'll take her someplace safe. Don't count on finding her._

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Sara opened her locker and smiled when her eyes fell on one of the pictures that was stuck on the inside of the door. It was a picture of Nick and Amy when they were on vacation last summer. Twelve year-old Amy had her arms around Nick's neck from behind and they were both laughing at the camera.

That was before she'd found out.

She'd come home one day and found her daughter totally confused on the couch. She'd gone over to ask what was wrong when she noticed the file on the coffeetable. The police file about her missing daughter. Amy's twin sister.

It stopped her in her tracks and a few seconds passed before she could say anything at all.

"Where did you find this?" Was all she could say.

Amy had lowered her head. "I came home from school and wanted to prepare for my presentation next week. I wanted to use my birth certificate for that. I went looking for it and thought it might be in here… but it wasn't."

She had sat down next to her daughter, contemplating what to say next. Amy was faster, however.

"Is it true? I really have a twin sister?"

Sara sighed, knowing that this was going to be a difficult conversation. "Yes, you do. But I'd rather… talk about this when your father comes home tonight."

And they had. It had been a long and difficult conversation for everybody. A lot of how's and why's were asked, tears were shed.

Amy had distanced herself somewhat ever since. She said she needed time to consume this.

With another sigh, Sara closed her locker and went to the break room, where Grissom would be handing out assignments soon. On her way there, she thought about the last crazy incident here at the lab. A vandal had found it's way into the garage of the crime lab and sprayed the walls with graffiti. She had been caught by dayshift soon afterwards. Wasn't even a teen yet, and was already getting into serious trouble.

Grissom was just about to hand out assignments when they were interrupted. There was a man at the door. Sara'd seen him before a few times. A guy from social services.

"Gary Trent, social services," he introduced himself. She'd been right. "Looks like you'll be getting a new aid here at the lab. The girl that vandalised the garage here, a few months ago, is supposed to clean it all up and help you out where ever she can."

"This is Christina, Chris for short. She's one of our regular costumers." He pointed at a girl behind him. At that point, Sara's jaw dropped, as did those of about half the people present. Chris was the exact image of Amy…

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TBC

My first attempt at CSI. Let me know what you think!


	2. Juvy Girl

Chapter two: Juvy Girl

Chris felt herself get more uncomfortable with every second passed in this awkward silence. It confused her too. In the end, she couldn't keep it to herself anymore.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you it's impolite to stare? Gawd, stop it, will ya?"

A blond woman seemed to be the first to compose herself. "Sorry, it's just that uhm… you resemble a girl we know… quite a lot."

"Right. Still no reason to stare at me."

"Watch your tongue Christina," Trent said.

"Or what?"

"You can expect more punishment."

"Whatever."

She looked away. A younger man with goofy hair was the next to speak.

"So, you'll be working the night shift with us huh?"

"No," Trent intervened, "She was supposed to start this morning, but for some reason or another, didn't show up."

"I told you before, I was busy."

"Doing what, exactly?"

"None of your business."

"You know, I could call your parole officer right now and have you send back to juvy in a matter of minutes. It's your choice."

That seemed to make her hold her tongue. She just frowned and looked at the ground.

_There's no way in hell that I'm going back to that place. Even if it means that I have to live in a shelter. Still better than foster care._

"Fine. I'll clean that friggin' mess up and do your ruddy jobs for as long as I have to. Happy now?"

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She was in the garage trying to get the graffiti off the walls (which wasn't really happening up to now), when two of the CSIs she met earlier came in. She thought she remembered them introducing themselves as Sara and Warrick.

They seemed to be waiting for something. She decided to ignore them for now and went on with her work. Not that she thought she was ever going to get it off.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed the CSIs were watching her. She rolled her eyes and turned around to face them, hands on her hips.

"Is something the matter?"

"Besides your attitude?" Warrick responded.

She huffed and turned around again, muttering "Fine, whatever."

They were quiet for a few seconds when Sara decided to shoot her a question. "So you did time in juvy huh?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Christine replied sourly without turning around.

"Nothing really. Just curious. What were you in for?"

"None of your business." She didn't want to talk about it. It had been bad enough as it was without anyone feeling sorry for her.

At that moment a tow truck arrived with a pretty smashed-up car on it. The CSIs turned toward it and left her doing her work.

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After Warrick and Sara had processed the outside for a while, they were now moving to its inside.

Warrick felt the hairs in the back of his neck stand on end and looked back over his shoulder. There he saw Christina turning back to her work, pretending o be interested in a particularly big blob of graffiti on the wall.

"You noticed that she's watching us?"

"Yeah," Sara sighed. "Wonder why."

"Maybe she's just interested in what we do."

"What are you thinking?"

"You in for a challenge?" Sara merely looked at him. Regarding that as a yes, he turned around. "Hey, Juvy Girl!"

"Name's Christina." She shot back.

"Christina, sorry. Wanna help us out?"

She looked at him for a few seconds, as if she were trying to see whether he was joking. Deciding he wasn't, she climbed of the small ladder she was standing on and approached them.

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TBC


	3. Confrontation

**Chapter 3: Confrontation**

There wasn't much Chris could do. All she really did was hand Warrick and Sara the stuff they needed. Except for the names of the things they needed, everyone was quiet.

After a while, that silence became uncomfortable. Warrick decided to end it, and at the same time try and find out more about Christina.

'So Christina,' He said. 'Why don't you tell us something about yourself?'

Christina shrugged. 'What's there to tell?'

'Well, I don't know.' Sara put in. 'Maybe you should just start at the beginning?'

For a moment, Christina seemed to be preoccupied with what was in the kit. Then she said 'Sure, why not. I was a dumpster, to begin with.'

'A dumpster?' Warrick repeated.

'Yeah, you know. They left me in a sports bag in some dull café. No one noticed me until I started crying.'

'Who's they?' Sara asked.

'Well, my parents, I presume. I don't know who else would have done something like that. Anyways, that's how I ended up in the system. I've been in more foster homes than I can count ever since. When I was ten, I'd had it and I ran. Cops found me though, and Social Services brought me back to another foster home. But I just kept running. At least I did until that last family. It was nice there.'

She seemed to get lost in thought and then she suddenly looked away. Sara thought she saw tears running down Christina's cheeks.

'Maybe I should get back to work.' Christina said. With that she got up and went back to work on the walls. Warrick and Sara just looked at each other. Then Sara got up and went over to Christina. She was hesitating before saying something.

'Hey, you okay?'

'Sure, why not?' But her voice betrayed her. It was trembling and Sara was sure she was crying.

'If you want to, you can take a break.'

Christina just nodded. Then she seemed to remember something and asked, 'In the… break room, earlier, everybody was looking at me as if I had grown a second head. And that other lady said I resembled someone… What was she talking about?' She turned towards Sara, who was slightly taken aback about what to say.

She looked over at Warrick, who was watching them. He just shrugged his shoulders, as if saying 'do what you think is best, she'll find out eventually'.

She hesitated a moment longer before answering. 'You know… twelve years ago, I uh… I had twin daughters. But when they uh…' She was trying to keep herself from getting too emotional. She realised though that she had Christina's attention, even when she wasn't looking at her. She took a deep breath and continued. 'When they were just a few hours old, one of them was stolen from us. We never saw her again, as hard as we tried to find her. We don't even know if she's still alive. The reason I'm telling you this, though, is that… you resemble my daughter… quite a lot… and you seem about the same age…'

Christina was looking at her now, an incredulous look on her face. She didn't know what to think, or say. Just a couple of hours ago, she had thought that she would never find a possible family member, and that she had always been unwanted; and now this woman was suggesting that she might be her daughter?!

Sara noticed the alarmed look on Christina's face and regretted that she had told her like this, without even talking to Nick first.

Christina was astounded by the news, to say the least. But then an idea came to her. What if it all was a big joke? A trick to try and get her hopes up that she may not have been unwanted, to throw everything back in her face when she started to open up. It's not like it hadn't happened before.

But then again, the pain she'd seen in a flash on Sara's face had looked genuine. Doubt was nagging at her. She was started to get confused by all the what ifs going through her head, and in a surge decided to take the safe road; stay apprehensive.

'You know, it all sounds like a nice enough story. But I don't believe you.' And with that, she walked out of the garage.

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TBC


	4. Breakdown

Thank you to all my reviewers! Please keep them coming!

**Chapter 4: Breakdown**

Christina didn't return from her "break". In fact, nobody saw her very often, since she was now always at the lab during day shift. In addition to that, she avoided any contact, if possible, with both Nick and Sara when they came in early and their paths crossed. She practically turned her back on them.

She seemed to be contemplating things though, steeling glances towards Nick and Sara when she thought they weren't looking, before shaking her head and going on with her work.

Nobody seemed to have found out any more about Christina. The only thing they really knew, was that she had done time in juvenile prison and that she had a strong resemblance to Amy Stokes.

Without legitimate reason, however, one could not just look into her record. Christina herself refused to talk about it, and shut down when someone asked.

Then one day, suddenly, tides changed. At first, everybody thought that Christina just wouldn't show up anymore, when she was over an hour late. Someone called the shelter where she was supposed to be staying, but the people there said that they hadn't seen her all day.

She did come in though; three hours late. She entered the break room without a word and started rummaging around in cupboards, looking for the stuff she needed to continue the cleaning. The Night Shift had just gathered there to hand out assignments.

"We're kind of late, aren't we?" Warrick asked with a significant look at the clock.

"I got held up," she answered. "But I'm here now, aren't I? Don't worry, I'll catch up the hours I missed," she added in a sarcastic tone. The team just raised their eyebrows at each other.

"Would you mind sharing by what you were held up?" Greg asked.

"Is that really any of your business? Like I said, I'm here now, right?"

"And you were doing so well on your behaviour towards us," Catherine muttered under her breath. Christina seemed to have heard anyway.

"Well, if my behaviour doesn't suit you, why don't you just leave me alone?" Christina said when she spun around to face them. Somehow that movement seemed to hurt her: she flinched ever so slightly before she angrily picked up her stuff and stalked out of the room.

It didn't go unnoticed that she'd flinched. While the team headed out to their respective crime scenes, practically everybody spoke about it, wondering what it meant.

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Meanwhile, Christina had sought out the solitude of the garage, not only to clean up the graffiti – which finally started disappearing from the walls – but also to let her emotions run free.

She sank to the floor with her back against the wall and put her arms around her knees. Tears were running free now, reddening her eyes and leaving trails on her cheeks.

She cried for a good half hour before the flow of tears seemed to subside somewhat. She leaned her forehead on her knees, still hiccupping and closed her eyes to prevent new tears to fall. She didn't even notice that she started to fall asleep.

She started awake when somebody gently touched her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Sara crouching in front of her, looking concerned.

"Hey, you okay?" Sara asked quietly. She could clearly see the tearstains and knew that something was up. "Shift's almost over, you know."

"Yeah," Christina said, but suddenly tears sprung to her eyes. "No," she choked out.

Sara sat down next to her, waiting for Christina to continue. She noticed the girl was breaking.

"It happened on my way over here… And it hurt… you'd think that after so many times it wouldn't h-hurt any-ymore, but it does… it hurt so badly… and I tried to scream for help, but no one came… no one came…"

That's when she just broke into tears again. Sara's maternal instinct took over and she put her arms around the girl, knowing she was probably compromising evidence, but just wanting to comfort her.

Christina completely broke down, but couldn't help but feel safe, being held like this, and how much she missed and wanted it. She just held on to Sara as if holding on to dear life, until she couldn't cry anymore.

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TBC


	5. Reconciliation & Determination

Chapter 5: Reconciliation & Determination

Everybody was just about to leave the break room when Sara came back in and called them back.

"We have another case," she said.

"And you became supervisor… when?" Greg queried. He was already dead tired and did not feel like doing another shift.

"I don't think that's funny Greg," Sara said. "I'm serious. I know everyone's tired, but I really think this is something WE should do, and not someone from Days."

"Why, what happened?" Grissom asked. He knew the look on Sara's face: concern. Something was worrying her.

"It's Christina… She uhm… she's been assaulted… sexually… and she doesn't really want to talk about it. I only found out because I found her sleeping in the garage, and when I woke her up, she broke down in front of me. She told me a few things… that it happened on her way here, that she knew the guy from the shelter she'd been staying… and that it wasn't the first time someone raped her. At first, she didn't want to report it at all, saying that no one would believe her, that they'd think she only wanted attention… I convinced her to report it anyway. She said she'd do it on one condition; that we would be the ones to take the case. Apparently we are the only one she trusts somewhat."

"So she'll let us do it?" Catherine asked. She just wanted confirmation for what she'd just heard; that the girl who'd been pushing them away all the time was actually letting them in now.

Sara just nodded.

"Okay," Grissom said. "Catherine, you and Warrick handle this."

"Why can't I do this?" Sara asked. "She confided to me, I personally think I should be the one doing this."

"Regarding the rumors in the lab and Ecklie already breathing down our necks to catch us breaking protocol, it seems like the best thing to do."

Sara looked at him, as if judging him. After a while she looked away, knowing he was right, but pursing her lips nonetheless, trying to hold her tongue.

"Fine. But where is she going to stay? I mean, you can't possibly send her back to the shelter, not after what just happened."

"I'll call Child Services and we'll figure something out. Meanwhile, the rest of us go home and get some sleep. Catherine, I think it's best if you do the SAE-kit now, take her statement and then work out where she can stay with Child Services."

"I know Grissom. I've had this job for quite a while, you know."

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When Nick and Sara got home that morning, they were surprised to find Amy already awake and apparently waiting for them on the couch. They put their keys on the table and went to sit next to her.

Nick gently lay his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.

"Something the matter sweets? You're usually still asleep around this time on a Saturday morning."

It took a few moments for Amy to respond. "I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking…"

"About what?" Sara asked softly, but already guessing what it was.

"What we talked about. You know, when I found the police report. And now the rumors about this girl at the lab…"

"How do you know about that?" Nick asked. He and Sara had decided not to tell Amy about this as of yet, but wait until they had figured it out some more. But somehow she seemed to have picked up on it.

"Primary source? Lindsey. But I heard you talk about it as well, when you thought I was asleep." She sighed and stared into empty space for a few moments before continuing.

"Is it possible? I mean, I heard from Lindsey that she really looked a lot like me, and we're about the same age and everything… add to that, that my sister has been missing all my life… Is it not possible that she's… that she's my twin?"

With that, she looked up at her parents. She'd secretly been wishing for a sibling all her life, but her parents had always been reluctant. Now that she actually knew that her baby sister (by a few minutes) had been taken from them after her birth, she understood why. But if there was even the remote possibility that this girl from Juvy (like Lindsey had told her) was in fact her baby sister, she wanted to know. Now.

"Well?" she asked when her parents still didn't respond.

"We can't know for sure," Nick finally responded. "Technically… it's possible, I guess, but we can't know for sure."

"Why not? Can't we do a DNA-test or something like that? I mean, you work at the crime lab for God's sake, there must be something you can do."

"Amy," Sara said. "Amy, calm down, please. We're already trying to find out who she is. But she won't talk to us, to any of us, and we can't do a DNA-test without her consent or knowledge. Okay? It's not like we're sitting around, just watching her and doing nothing."

Amy nodded, defeated. Then she looked from Nick to Sara and back, and they saw a sudden determination in her eyes.

"I want to meat her."

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TBC!

**I'm looking for a beta, anyone interested in helping me out?**


	6. Realization

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, but life and school have been really hectic. Anyway, here's the next chapter, and thank you for all the positive reviews, I hope you keep them coming!

Btw, anyone interested in beta-ing me?

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**Chapter 6: Realization**

Amy's statement of wanting to meet Christina came as a surprise, to say the least. What surprised people even more was the fact that Christina agreed, albeit reluctantly. The SAE at the hospital had taken its toll, and she wanted to take her mind off things a bit. Meeting a girl who thought she might be kin seemed like enough of a distraction.

So it was that a few days after Christina's breakdown, she and Amy met at the park. Christina had asked they meet somewhere in public, so she wouldn't feel cornered or anything.

They had also agreed that there wouldn't be an adult sitting in on their conversation. That seemed to make both girls uncomfortable, and they were already nervous enough about meeting one another.

They'd said they'd meet each other around three on one of the benches. Amy was there already at 2:45, just on case. Minutes passed. She checked her watch. 3:05. Still no sign whatsoever of Christina. 3:10. She would come wouldn't she? 3:15. She was starting to get impatient. If she didn't want to meet, why didn't she just call?

She was about to leave at 3:20 when she saw a girl jogging towards the bench. She stopped in front of her.

"You Amy?" she asked. Amy just nodded. The girl extended her hand. Amy shook it. " Christina. Sorry I'm late, but I got on the wrong bus and found myself halfway across town before I really noticed." She then stopped and took a closer look at Amy. " Man, we really do look a lot like each other, don't we?" That comment put a smile on Amy's face.

" We really do." It was true. Christina's hair was a lot shorter than Amy's, and she had a different kind of wardrobe, but other than that it was really hard to find any difference between them at all.

Amy suggested they go get an ice-cream and talk a little. Christina agreed. Amy led the way to one of the small cafés that served ice-cream as well. Both sat down at a small table after having placed their orders. They just looked at each other, unsure of what to say. Amy decided to try and break the ice.

" Sooo… Lindsay told me… Lindsay's Catherine's daughter… that you're quite the artist with graffiti. Said you'd tried to give the garage at the crime lab a little more colour."

Christina grinned. " Well, that's one way to put it."

" Really," Amy asked, " What's the other?"

" Well, let's just say, I had some _artistic differences_ with the police and I wanted to express them."

" Well, you sure did that. What were those differences about?" Amy wasn't sure whether she'd done the right thing by asking that. She'd wanted to keep up the light mood, but Christina's face had clouded when she asked the question.

" Uhm… I don't really want to talk about that."

" Sorry."

" No, it's not your fault. You asked a legit question, but uh… I don't know. It uh… it has something to do with me doing time in Juvy… I just don't think I did anything wrong, and they still put me there. I mean, I couldn't have known that they weren't… anyway I wanted to let them know what I thought about it."

Halfway through her speech, she had averted her eyes and started fidgeting with her hands. Amy thought she saw tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. She decided to change the subject.

" So, did they ever tell you about the possibility that… you know, that I might be…"

" Your sister?" Amy nodded. " Yeah, your mother told me that. I didn't believe her."

" Why?"

" Well, uhm… First of all, when I was admitted to foster care, it was because I was found in a sports bag at some café. They said that one of my parents… or both for that matter, left me there. And I just didn't see your parents do that. Especially not when your mother told me about you.

" And then there's that time, when I wanted to find my real parents, and I went to the precinct. They told me I should hire a… what was it called?... a PI. I had no idea what that was, so I asked them and they said ' A Private Investigator. But they're pretty expensive, most of them. But hey, if you want to give it a try…'. So they gave me this address, and I went there. The guy listened to my story and said he might even consider doing it for free. He told me to fill out this form and he'd see what he could find.

" Well, that's where it ended for me. After that I just gave up all hope of ever finding my family and I told myself time after time that I probably was unwanted. If you keep repeating that often enough, you start to believe it. So, it kind of overwhelmed me, when your mother told me that."

Amy was silent for a moment, stunned by Christina's story. She knew that she had already learned more about Christina than anyone else at the lab. She thought she'd try to learn some more.

" Why did it end for you when he asked you to fill out the form? I mean, he could have found us easily. My parents had filed a police report and you were still on the missing persons list. All that he'd have to do was take a DNA-sample from you and run it through the computer!"

" You just mentioned why it ended there. The form." Christina clarified when she saw that Amy looked confused.

" What's with it? Did it ask for some ridiculous thing or did it cost $1,000 or something?"

" I wouldn't know." At that point Amy's eyebrows practically disappeared into her hairline. Christina sighed. " I can't read Amy. I can't even spell my name, let alone spell out the name of the café I was found in, or write any of it down!"

Amy looked at her, stupefied. " You can't what?"

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TBC...


	7. Troubled Times

**Okay guys, sorry it took soooo long to update, but I've been really busy with school and my finals are coming up, so I probably won't be able to update any time soon. Not that I won't try though…**

**Anyway, here's chapter 7 for you faithful readers…**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Troubled Times**

Word has it, that you have to live through hard times in the past to ensure yourself of a better future. That is practically what happened for Christina.

She and Amy had met a few more times after that initial meeting. They started to open up more and more to each other, and Christina actually consented to doing a DNA-comparison between the two of them in a specified lab, since they were not allowed to do so in the crime lab. They were still waiting for an answer though.

The seventh time after their initial meeting, Amy and Christina had rendezvoused in the park again. They'd had had 'meetings' with both Nick and Sara present, but it had made Christina so uncomfortable that she completely shut down. Everybody had agreed that it would be better to hold off meeting all four, for now anyways, and so it was just the two of them for now.

Everybody at the crime lab had been shocked to learn that Christina couldn't read. They had contacted someone at DCFS and asked whether she would be allowed home-schooling for as long as she was in the shelter. DCFS had said yes, but so far, nothing had happened. Christina was still in a shelter and hadn't even started learning how to read yet.

They met at their usual spot; the bench where they first met. But somehow, today felt different.

Christina was early today, and had to wait a few minutes for Amy to arrive. Not that she minded. She just sat there, staring at her feet, kicking up some sand. Amy arrived soon after.

She was carrying a bundle with her. After having greeted, Christina just couldn't hold her patience. "What's in the bag?"

Amy just grinned. She opened the bag and took out some thin, worn books. Among those was _Dr. Seuss_ and other similar books. "These," she said, "were the books that helped me learn to read. I thought you might want them." She searched Christina's face for any reaction. She just stared at her.

"I can't take these. They're yours, they have emotional value. I can't take that away from you…"

"Ow, stop being silly. It's not like I'm going to read them now, and I don't think you'll get up and burn them to get warm at night… at least, I hope you won't…and I won't be having kids for quite a while, so you might as well use them. If you want to, we can read them together."

"That's really kind of you, but…" It was only now that Amy noticed Christina's shaking hands. She as caressing the books, almost as if it were something of extremely high value. She noticed the breath that caught in her throat and her eyes that misted over.

"I really can't take these." Christina tried to give them back to her, but Amy wouldn't take them.

"I gave them to you to learn to read. Returning a gift to the person that gave it to you is quite rude, you know that?"

"Of course I know that, but I really can't take them." Christina had started to get up.

"But why?" Amy was really getting worried now and she had to run to catch up with Christina. She grabbed her arm to stop her from going any further.

"Christina, I'm trying to help you and you turn me down. What's wrong?"

Christina was starting to tear up. "I know you're trying to help, Amy, and I really appreciate it. But I can't do it. Not with these, anyway." She gestured to the books.

She looked up at Amy to still find that question written on her face; _why?_

She sighed deeply, trying to find the courage to talk. "Amy, in the foster family I lived in… in the last one… I had a little brother, and he… he…" She was openly crying now. Shaking her head, she angrily wiped away the tears. "I don't want to talk about this right now. It was enough that I had to live it and do time for it, I don't want to talk about it right now. And as much as I appreciate your gift, I really can't take it. I'm sorry."

With that, she turned around and walked away.

TBC…

**Pleas review!**


	8. Secrets Uncovered

**I am sooooooooooo sorry it took me this long to post another chapter... life just got in the way... For those of you that just read this story for the first time: I know the pairing isn't canon with the show, but when I started writing this, it was a possibility. And I don't like to abandon things, just because they aren't like the show anymore. **

**Sooo... I will TRY to post another chapter soon... no guarantees though... Enjoy!**

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****Chapter 8: Secrets uncovered**

Amy was troubled when she came home that night. Not only had the girl she thought to be her sister rudely refused a gift, but she'd also said something she just couldn't get out of her head. Something had happened to Christina's fosterbrother while she'd been there. And Christina wouldn't talk about it.

So what's a girl to do then? Google. And that was the first thing Amy did when she got home. Turn on the computer and Google Christina's name.

What turned up was horrific, to say the least. Most of the hits were newspaper articles. One of the headlines read '9 year old kills foster brother'. The others were all similar. The main body in the articles was all pretty much the same.

They all read about a little boy, Sean Daltry, age 4, who'd been found dead after his sister had brought him to bed that night. As it turned out, the girl had given him some Tylenol, to which the boy proved to be allergic. She claimed later she didn't know, but while investigating the police found a warning bracelet around the boy's wrist. The judge in Family Court had been lenient and only sentenced her for a few months. The civil complaints about this sentencing were numerous, but all ignored. Christina was said to have spend several months in a juvenile facility, to be released and have her record expunged later.

And now here she was, so close and yet pushing her away again.

Amy sighed, wondering what to do. She decided to call the shelter, and see whether Christina had arrived yet. Luckily, she had.

"Hey Sweets," she said. She _sounded_ like her old self again…

"Hey," Amy answered. "You feelin' better?"

"Just peachy. Why?"

"… Look, I'm really sorry about what happened in the park. I know I hurt you somehow, but I don't really know… I'm really sorry. Can we talk about it? About what happened?"

"I don't know Amy. I'm not really in the mood to talk right now. Besides, if I leave now, I'll miss dinner. And I'm starving, so."

"Well, you could eat here. If you want to, I mean. I'm sure my parents won't make a big deal about it."

It was quiet on the other end of the line. Amy was about to say something when Christina finally spoke.

"Fine. I'll be there in 20. See ya." With that, she hung up.

Dinner was quiet. Christina seemed lost in thought, and no one wanted to push the subject. Amy had told her parents what she'd found after her conversation with Christina, and her suspicions about what happened with Sean. They were all curious, but afraid that if they pushed her now, she'd run and never come back. And she was _finally_ here, in their home, at their dinnertable, enjoying a meal together… sort of.

After dinner, Nick and Sara cleared the table together, leaving the girls alone to talk. They both stared at the tabletop for a while.

"It was because of your brother, wasn't it?" Amy finally said. Christina looked at her, but said nothing. "That's why you wouldn't take the books. Because they reminded you of your brother?"

Christina just nodded. Eventually she said: "He just loved those books. I recognized them by their cover. And I just couldn't…"

"You never told your parents that you couldn't read, did you?" Christina shook her head.

"No. I'd only been there 4 days, and I didn't want them to send me away again, like all the others had."

Amy listened, hoping she'd elaborate more. Nick and Sara leaned in the doorway, trying not to disturb them. After a while, Christina went on.

"They had visitors that night. It was pretty loud downstairs. They asked me to put Sean in bed, so they wouldn't have to leave their guests. And when we were upstairs, Sean told me he had a headache. No one had told me anything about any allergies, so I gave him some Tylenoldrops and a glass of water. He seemed fine! But when his parents came to check on him later… the screams, and the looks on their faces… as if I'd done it on purpose! And I didn't! I didn't know! And no one believed me! No one believed me!" With that she broke down. Amy got up and put her arms around her, hugging her tight.

She looked at her parents hopelessly.


End file.
